===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
(Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Plexicushion); Major)
=============== http://2008.australianopen.com/
Fourth round (Monday 21st January)
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Nice winner, nice loser:
+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [9,EF] d. MARIA KIRILENKO [27,DF], 1-6 6-4 6-4

I have uploaded to my website my new TV-report of this match, which I
recently acquired on DVD from Tennis Videos International
<http://www.users.bigpond.com/tennisvideos1/>.

It was a mouthwatering match - not just because Daniela and Maria are
two of the most attractive players in the world, but in tennis-terms!
They played some great spreading rallies; most of the points ended on
forced errors; the serving was fast and extremely accurate, but
without too many short points as a result; Daniela hit some
outstanding second serves as she fought back from 1-3* to 5-3* in the
second set, while Maria hit some amazing returns off good first
serves.

Something seemed to click in Daniela when she was 1-6 1-3* (0/30*)
down. She hit an off-forehand winner, then got the bit between her
teeth, and never looked back - at least until *5-2 (40/15) in the
third!

Maria seemed to be the more nervous of the two, and was also hampered
by a right-thigh injury towards the end of the third set, which she
had the trainer evaluate at *3-5 and took a medical time-out at 4-5*.

I'm impressed by the improvement of Maria's game compared to the
times I watched her play in 2004-2007. She does have a lot more
firepower than she did in 2005, and she retrieves very well too, and
can mix up the pace with high, looping shots and sliced backhands.
I do wish she would flatten out her groundstrokes rather than hitting
them with so much topspin, though - it would make them more
attractive, more effective as approach-shots, and more effective on
grass.

My full TV-report is at:
http://tinyurl.com/hantu-australianopen2008

It also includes reviews of Daniela's first three matches (adding no
new information to the reports I posted here at the time).

--
Dr. Andrew Broad